Posted: 02/09/2007--25/11/2008 || Rate this Article: 3 || Views|| Sign In || Register ||Hello Guest
Sometimes it is not the expensive trips to theme parks or fancy resort destinations that stand out in childrens memories. An inexpensive daytrip can make for quality family time and also allow you to have more direct influence on your childs enjoyment than a theme park filled with loud music, flashing lights, and fast rides. In addition, a well-planned daytrip can be quite educational.
The most inexpensive daytrips to take are, of course, to free public establishments, like state and national parks and libraries. For a nice spring or fall day, go to a park and enjoy hunting mushrooms; or look at birds, insects, trees, or whatever your child is most interested in. For an added educational benefit, take a field guide, look up what you find, and be sure to read the entries to your child. On a sparkly summer day, go looking for rocks or fossils, or simply go wading in a shallow creek.
In mineral-rich regions of the United States, there are many private parks that will allow you to go digging and prospecting for a relatively low entrance fee. A nice quartz formation can become a lifelong memento for a child that finds it on his or her own.
On rainy days, the library is great, but dont just split up and go your separate ways, everyone looking up his or her own interests. Make it a family outing and set a research topic for the day. Show your kids how to do their own research on any given topic. Help them, and at the end of the outing, allow them to check out their books for more home research C or have a roundtable discussion with your children about the topic.
For older children, visit a historical landmark or home in your community. Town halls or local historical societies usually have lots of information available about landmarks to visit. If you live in the southern United States, for instance, you can go to a Civil War battleground. In the Northeast, there are many sites linked to the Revolutionary War. These sites will often have battle reenactments and people in period costume on location at different times during the year, and are usually more than happy to supply information on upcoming events.
If your community has large immigrant or ethnic populations from one origin, they will often have a cultural fair at some point in the year. This offers a great opportunity to learn about a culture, as well as a chance to see, taste and hear something exotic close to your home. Native American reservations and cultural festivals often have Powwows and displays or demonstrations of traditional crafts.
Music festivals are also very enjoyable. If a child is bored when listening to classical or jazz on a stereo system, they will often perk up at seeing it live. It can be quite fascinating to watch how a group of people can all contribute to one piece of music. This might spark an interest in music that was untapped in your child.
Model farms and pick-your-own-produce farms and orchards allow your child to become intimately aware of where the food they eat comes from. Go picking apples and bake them into a pie and serve it at a family meal. Or go on a country stroll with a pail and pick blackberries for a nice cobbler. If your child is a devoted fan of a particular soft drink or ice cream product, check and see if it is manufactured locally. Often, these factories have tours that take you through each step in the production of the product, with a tasting at the end. Your children will eat it up, both literally and figuratively!
With a well-planned daytrip, savvy parents can not only lay the basis for a lifetime of fond childhood memories for their children, but can also exert more influence in the intellectual development of their children in the process.
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